Healthways, Inc. F4Q08 (Qtr End 08/31/08) Earnings Call Transcript

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2008-10-16 19:06:08.0

Tags: Call Transcript, Healthways Inc., Health Care, Renewal, Earnings, Vertical Industries, Benefits, Healthcare, Construction, Financial Accounting, Enterprise Software, Software, Human Resources, Finance, Seeking Alpha, Call Transcript, Healthways Inc., Health Care, Renewal, Earnings, Vertical Industries, Benefits, Healthcare, Construction, Financial Accounting, Enterprise Software, Software, Human Resources, Finance, Seeking Alpha

Question-and-Answer Session

Operator

(Operator Instructions) Your first question comes from Tom Carroll of Stifel Nicolaus.

Tom Carroll - Stifel Nicolaus

On the two of the four large health plan renewals that you mentioned can you provide us some sense of how the terms changed? For example was price cut in half or additional services added for a low price, I mean what concessions were made in renewing these customers?

Secondly, I am wondering if shareholders will see any insider buying this coming week when the window opens up because the story certainly seems good and the stock is relatively cheap to where it has been in the past.

Mary Chaput

With out giving a lot of detail about any of our contracts, what we can tell you is that we think that the strategically important thing to do is retain customers. We know our customers are under certain pressures as they look forward into 2009 and we have been successful in the past and I think have shown success this year in negotiating contracts that are win win. I think that that is in the best interest of the company. We are a service contract organization and we have proved flexible in maintaining appropriate levels of margins in these renewal discussions.

Ben Leedle

I would just add onto that, the levers inside of those renewals and conversations are pretty much the same. We have been in the contract service industry for 26 years now. It is our core business and we are experienced at this. It is always a function of turnkey and scope of service or programs that are there and the mix of that, as Mary said, is really an aim to create meeting the needs of our clients as well as making those arrangements successful for Healthways and valuable to shareholders: related to the insider buying, when the window opens up we expect that to be an attractive opportunity.

Tom Carroll - Stifel Nicolaus

So is it fair to say your cautious tone about 2009 renewals that we have been hearing about through the summer still holds true?

Ben Leedle

Absolutely, all you have to do is continue to look at communication from companies across all different industries. I know for certain, I have been with this company for 23 years and I have not seen the kind of macro environment that we are operating in at the speed with which it is moving. I think anyone that is feeling a sense of certainty about what all is going to happen in the next 12 to 18 months might have a different crystal ball than we do.

 

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